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Kevin Shepherd: Comics Die In Hot Cars

A free, live, comedy documentary shot in Kevin's car. Join
Kevin and friends as they live the dream. Each show will include
a different comedian from the many road trips performing live.

Each year thousands of comics travel thousands of miles in
pursuit of their dream and ultimate goal, to make people laugh.
Hovering a fair few rungs below the household names, the plight
of these talented comedians is little known. Now, thanks to a
dodgy camera borrowed from a university, in his trusty diesel
Rover, Kevin Shepherd has managed to catch these unsung heroes
in their natural habitat.

Comedians

Reviews

Original Review:

Ninety per cent of a comedian's working life is spent not
on stage, but in car travelling to or from gigs.

What's more they're usually shared journeys, and when you
get two or more stand-ups together they're guaranteed to engage
in a comedic pissing competition, to see who can outfunny the
others.

Kevin Shepherd's brilliant idea was to film all these conversations
and edit them into an Edinburgh show. This way he's got more
that a dozen comics, writing his show for him.

Most of them are from the lower end of the professional comedy
ladder where ride-sharing is a financial necessity, but you also
get rather incongruously, Jimmy Carr mulling over the finer points
of a stand-up's life.

Every would-be comic should watch this show to get an idea
of the sort of conversations you can expect on that seven-hour
drive to Plymouth, with at least most of the tedium and vacuous
banter exorcised.

But what of those with only a passing interest in comedy?
Paul Provenza's film The Aristocrats proved there's a market
for documentaries on an unseen sides of the comedians' art, and
there are certainly enough jokes in this to keep today's non-partisan
audience laughing.

Shepherd hasn't, perhaps, shot quite enough footage to edit
from, with certain sequences are a bit too much like in-jokes
on the particular comics. Australian Pam Ford, for instance,
is edited to make her out to be constantly talking about her
boyfriend, as if anyone really cares.

If Big Brother has taught us one thing, though, it's that
people do care about the inanities of strangers' lives, and Comics
Die In Hot Cars is not such a great leap from reality TV, only
with the advantage that it features people who do have some comic
sensibilities. And , in a neat gimmick, one of them appears live
in the show each day to do five minutes of their material - tonight
it was Carl Donnelly.

Shepherd's on-stage contribution in introducing the clips
is minimal ­ genial enough but hardly comedy dynamite. But
then he has already contributed the idea in the first place ­
and what a good idea it turned out to be. Enjoy the ride.

Comments

Older Comments

Tony Cowards - 21/08/2006

A brilliant show if you have even a vague interest in the mechanics of stand up comedy and what happens to comics before and after the gig. The clips are very funny and give a great insight into life on the road for the gigging stand up. Mr Shepherd is the perfect host and provides good linking pieces between the films. In all a very enjoyable show, one that shows some of the logistics involved in bringing laughter to the country but without stripping the process of all of its inherant humour.